Mat.



No. 743,303. PATENTED NOVfB, 1903.

- J. E. MAGMURRAY.

MAT.

A`PPL1GATION FILED JUNE 20, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

"IIHNWINIIUIIIIIIIIIIIN YWIL 1522672 2%?, mZ/6%? @WM M@ ite. 743,303.

UNITED STATES fermented November 3, 1903;

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES E. MACMURRAY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ACME FLEXIBLE CLASP COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORA- rlION OF ILLINOIS.

MAT;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,303, dated November 3, 193.

Application filed June 20, 1903. Serial No. 162,383. (No model.)

To'a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES E. MAGMURRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of metallic mats formed of strips of metal bent to produce iu each a plurality of' ferred to whereby it shall be rendered strong with the use of comparatively little metal and shall present a comparatively great variety of scraping action to the feet.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

`Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved mat;

Fig. 2, an edge View of the same, and Fig. 3 an enlarged perspective view of one of the strips with a section broken away.

A A are flat metal strips bent to form a number of similar U s A,with their open ends pointing in successively opposite directions, and braces A2, extending obliquely between adjacent Us to connect an end of one leg of each with the opposite end of the adjacent leg of the other. The legs of each U and the brace connecting them are provided with coincident perforations near each end to admit near the apexes of the angles formed by their junctions the connecting-rods hereinafter described.

To form a mat, the desired number of strips A are so adjusted parallel together that the closed and open ends of the successive Us in one stripwill alternate with those in the next adjacent strip, with the closed end of each entering to a short distance the open end of a U coincident with it, so as to cause the strips to'overlap or intermesh with one anmat.

other and the oblique braces to extend parallellin series throughout the mat. The strips are hinged or iiexiblyv connected together by rods B passing through the lines of coincident perforations o in the legs of the Us and the braces.

It is preferred to form the Us all of the same dimensions, but narrower than the spaces between them through which they are connected by the braces A2. Thus if the width and also the length of each U be one inch that of each space between adjacent Us in a strip may be one and one-half inches or wider, and the rods may be relatively disposed about one inch apart. The construction thus described renders the mat particularly strong by reason of the reinforcement due to the oblique braces provided between the Us in each strip and by reason of each rod having three bearing points-namely, in the coincident perforatious of each brace, the leg of a U to which it is joined, and the adjacent leg of the coincident U in the next succeeding strip-while the hinging together of the strips renders the mat adequately nexible. Moreover, by aording the three bearings to each rod at every point Where it performs its connecting function the mat is rendered particularly rigid in the diagonal directions between the points .fr a: and m' rc', and the oblique braces, besides permitting the mat to be produced from a quantity of metal materially less than is required Where, as has hitherto been done, each strip is formed of an unbroken succession of Us with their open and closed ends alternating, aord a greater variety of scraping action to the mat-surface, thus not only crosswise of the legs and bases of the Us or at right angles in four directions to the edges of the mat, but also crosswise of the oblique braces or diagonally in two directions with relation to such edges. Furthermore, there is the advantage aorded by the oblique braces of enabling the area of the mat-surface to be materially expanded by lengthening the braces to greater relative proportions than described with reference to the width of the Us without greatly increasing the quantity of metal for producing the While it is preferred to employ the IOO continuous rods B for hinging the strips to- Vgether in the manner shown and described,

What I claim as new, and desire to secureV by Letters Patent, is-

1. A mat composed of metal strips bent to form U s and oblique braces alternating with each other with the Us opening alternately on opposite sides, said strips being serially disposed with the closed ends of the Us of one strip entering the open ends of the Us of the adjacent strip, and hinged together where the legs of the Us overlap one another in successive strips.

2. A mat composed of metal strips bent to form Us opening alternately on opposite sides, and braces extending obliquely between adjacent Us, said strips being serially disposed with the closed ends of the Us of one strip entering the open ends of the Us of the adjacent strip, and rods extending through coincident perforations in the legs of mutually-overlapping Us and braces of successive strips to hinge them together.

JAMES E. MAOMURRAY.

In presence of- L. HEISLAR', WALTER N. WINBERG. 

